The Don Davis Collection - Vol. 1

Dragon's Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, presents The Don Davis Collection, Volume 1 featuring music from Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, a two part science fiction docudrama from 2004 created by the makers of Walking with Dinoaurs, written and directed by Joe Ahearne and featuring the narration of actor David Suchet.

Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets (broadcast in shortened form as "Voyage to the Planets and Beyond" in the US) is a BBC science fiction adventure told in documentary style about an international crew of scientist/astronauts exploring the solar system. Originally titled "Walking with Spacemen", Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets imagines a six-year mission undertaken by a crew of five, piloting the nuclear thermal rocket-powered Pegasus spacecraft. The crew face a number of hardships and disappointments along the way, which provide dramatic adventure and danger between the various interactions experienced by the crew.

The music for Space Odyssey both energizes the story with a powerful sense of discovery and also pride in accomplishment for the mission fictionalized in the film. It's a powerful work with a strong main theme and containing some of the composer's most affecting music. Davis created the score using the most advanced digital samples available at that time, and a session with the BBC Concert Orchestra. The score is built around one primary theme and two subordinate motifs. The main theme is heroic, rich in the joy of discovery, the thrill of exploration, and a sense of honor toward the amazing excursion being undertaken. With the orchestra used primarily to express the sweeping variations of the main theme, the electronics provide eerie music to describe the planets visited by the Pegasus crew, as well as those situations where the astronauts are in danger. While he found configuring and managing the electronic array for the score challenging, Davis regards scoring Space Odyssey as a positive experience.

Dragon's Domain Records presents The Don Davis Collection, Volume 1, featuring the world premiere of the composer's music from Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, with liner notes written by author Randall Larson, including the participation of the composer, mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland.